Milos Forman Films | Milos Forman Filmography | Milos Forman Biography | Milos Forman Career | Milos Forman Awards

In the context of Czechoslovak cinema in the early 1960s, Milos Forman's first films (Black Peter and Talent Competition) amounted to a revolution. Influenced by Czech novelists who revolted against the establishment's aesthetic dogmas in the late 1950s rather than by Western cinema (though the mark of late neorealism, in particular Ermanno Olmi, is visible), Forman introduced to the cinema after 1948 (the year of the Communist coup) portrayals of working-class life untainted by the formulae of socialist realism.

Though Forman was fiercely attacked by Stalinist reviewers initially, the more liberal faction of the Communist party, then in ascendancy, appropriated Forman's movies as expressions of the new concept of ?socialist? art. Together with great box office success and an excellent reputation gained at international festivals, these circumstances transformed Forman into the undisputed star of the Czech New Wave. His style was characterized by a sensitive use of non-actors (usually coupled with professionals); refreshing, natural-sounding, semi-improvised dialogue which reflected Forman's intimate knowledge of the milieu he was capturing on the screen; and an unerring ear for the nuances of Czech folk-rock and music in general.

All these characteristic features of Forman's first two films are even more prominent in Loves of a Blonde, and especially in The Firemen's Ball. The latter film works equally well on one level as a realistic, humorous story and on an allegorical level that points to the aftermath of the Communist Party's decision to reveal some of the political crimes committed in the 1950s (the Sl?nsk? trial). In all these films?developed, except for Black Peter, from Forman's original ideas?he closely collaborated with scriptwriters Ivan Passer and Jaroslav Papousek, who later became directors in their own right.

Shortly after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, The Firemen's Ball was banned and Forman decided to remain in the West, where he was working on the script for what was to become the only film in which he would apply the principles of his aesthetic method and vision to indigenous American material, Taking Off. It is also his only American movie developed from his original idea; the rest are adaptations.

Traces of the pre-American Forman are easily recognizable in his most successful U.S. film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which radically changed Ken Kesey's story and?just as in the case of Papousek's novel Black Peter?brought it close to the director's own objective and comical vision. The work received an Oscar in 1975. In that year Forman became an American citizen.

The Forman touch is much less evident in his reworking of the musical Hair, and almost?though not entirely?absent from his version of E.L. Doctorow's novel Ragtime. The same is true of the box-office smash hit and multiple Oscar winner Amadeus, and his later adaptation, Valmont. Of marginal importance are the two remaining parts of Forman's oeuvre, The Well-Paid Stroll, a jazz opera adapted from the stage for Prague TV, and Decathlon, his contribution to the 1972 Olympic documentary Visions of Eight.

Forman is a merciless observer of the comedie humaine and has often been accused of cynicism, both in Czechoslovakia and in the West. To such criticisms he answers with the words of Chekhov, pointing out that what is cruel in the first place is life itself. But apart from such arguments, the rich texture of acutely observed life and the sensitive portrayal of and apparent sympathy for people as victims?often ridiculous?of circumstances over which they wield no power, render such critical statements null and void. Forman's vision is deeply rooted in the anti-ideological, realistic, and humanist tradition of such ?cynics? of Czech literature as Jaroslav Hasek (The Good Soldier Svejk), Bohumil Hrabal (Closely Watched Trains) or Josef Skvorecky (whose novel The Cowards Forman was prevented from filming by the invasion of 1968).

Although the influence of Forman's filmmaking methods may be felt even in some North American films, his lasting importance will, very probably, rest with his three Czech movies. Taking Off, a valiant attempt to show America to Americans through the eyes of a sensitive, if caustic, foreign observer, should be added to this list as well. After the mixed reception of this film, however, Forman turned to adaptations of best sellers and stage hits.

In recent years, Forman has been inactive as a director. Valmont attempted to capture the spirit of his smash hit Amadeus. But Valmont suffers by comparison. Moreover, it was released after Stephen Frears' superior Dangerous Liaisons, adapted from the same Choderlos de Laclos novel. Forman remains an outstanding craftsman and a first-class actors' director; however, in the context of American cinema he does not represent the innovative force he was in Prague.

Forman has been more involved in the academic world in recent years, accepting a position as professor of film and co-chair of the film division at Columbia University's School of the Arts, although he did successfully return to directing in 1996 with The People vs. Larry Flynt. He also appeared onscreen in a small role as Catherine O 'Hara's husband in Mike Nichols' Heartburn, in which he was reunited with his One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest star, Jack Nicholson. He also played, oddly enough, an apartment house janitor in Henry Jaglom's New Years' Day.?JOSEF SKVORECK? and ROB EDELMAN